Live From the Startup Bus – A bit freaked out (Post #1)

StartupBus 2013 is just days away. Instead of packing up, I’m pacing the 50,000 square foot halls of 1871 in Chicago, still totally scared, still a bit freaked out – about living on a bus with complete strangers.

Starting up a company from scratch, in three days, while on a nauseating bus ride may be the easy part of this experience.

If you don’t already know, StartupBus is an invitation-only community of hackers (coders), hustlers (marketeers) and hipsters (designers) passionate about startups. They are best known for their annual competition where they bring new people into their community, building and selling a product on a bus that’s traveling 60 miles an hour towards Austin.

I’ll be tweeting live from the Startup Bus back & forth with some of the biggest names in Tech, and of course, you. So if you have any of the following:

crazy good business ideas

recommendations for items we should bring on the bus

pranks I can play on the other buspreneurs

general encouragement to keep our spirits up

Let me know @Zackonomics with the hashtag #startupbuschi. I’ll tweet back from the bus, and pass along everything to the rest of the bus-preneurs.

Within a few hours of setting up a group email list, we already have sprouted up a LinkedIn group, Twitter list, and Google Spreadsheet with personal notes, bios, etc.. BaseCamp for project management, Bonfyre has been discussed for group communicating, Dwolla for splitting costs and payments.

Notice no mention of Facebook anywhere? This posse of programmers think fast-forward five years. I act my age, minus 10 years. We may have something going here.

I chirped in with a suggestion of bringing walkie talkies on the bus. It was instantly rejected. References to our iPhones, and the fact that we could literally sit next to eachother if we wanted to talk, killed my idea.

I declared, sheepishly: “I ain’t sitting next to nobody on the bus once we reach Tennessee – unless they’ve showered, and can prove it. I’ll be in the back of the bus with the walkie talkies if you need me…”.

This crew is a lot smarter than me. And I like that. Know your role, Chicago Startup Guy. Shit, I hadn’t even heard of Bonfyre until now… but don’t tell the other bus-preneurs that.

Quips from the Startup Bus Email Chain

Adapt, overcome, and create something great and enjoy the process as much as the result.

The chaos and planning craziness are part of the experience of the bus, and in reality, the startup life. Go with the flow, throw caution to the wind and be awesome!

When you get to Austin, don’t ever use the bathrooms at The Jackalope. Just trust me on this one. 🙂

So obviously, I’m not going anywhere near The Jackalope. Okay, now I wanna go to the bathroom at the Jackalope. I mean, why did he say “just trust me“? And with a smiley face?? I’ll try to post a photo from the Jackalope bathroom, but I suppose I can’t guarantee what happens after that.

Isn’t that what true entrepreneurs do? When you tell me to NOT do something, I’m gonna ask why, and I’m gonna try to prove it can be done.